Ten to Impossible
by LickleSoxy
Summary: The word impossible was, quite possibly, the most useless one in his vocabulary. - Implied Eleven/River.


**A/N: **Inspired by what I think is a magnificent piece of dialogue between Eleven and River in _Flesh and Stone_.

**Spoilers: **05x05 (Flesh and Stone)

**-o-**

**Ten to Impossible**

_"It's impossible."_

The first time he had said it to her, they were both plummeting to their deaths. Though she had met him twice before, this time felt different, odd somehow. The fact that he was telling her that surviving the fall was actually impossible might have been the reason why.

The moment lasted all but a second, but for River it felt like time had stopped. The word flowed easily from his lips, and, in all honesty, it was the most horrid thing River had ever heard in her life. Terrible and disgusting, the definition was not favourable, and made her want to scream and lash out in rage and hysteria.

How could something be _impossible_ with _him _around?

The Doctor could travel through time, completely change his physical appearance, was the owner of a ship that held an interior vastly too large compared to its exterior, and, truthfully, he was utterly bonkers. Everything and anything River had dubbed not possible to do had been thrown out of the window since meeting him.

Until now.

Now, they were both in a free fall, without ropes or tethers, and the drop was at least two miles, probably more. She was screaming like she had never done before, while he let out shouts that, confusingly, sounded completely delighted.

And he had said that finding a solution was impossible.

Metre after metre went by, and River closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Cold air hurting her skin, limbs useless and body in shock, she wondered why she had ever gone with the Doctor in the first place. It wasn't worth losing her life over; nothing was, or ever would be. This was ridiculous, unfair. He had gotten her killed.

"Open your eyes!"

River knew she was smart. She had intelligence, enough to get by with exactly what careers she wanted to do. So, when she heard the command, her eyes snapped open, and they would have done even if she had not wanted them to. His voice should not be audible, considering they were falling too fast, and the sound of the wind in their ears was too loud. But that sentence had been perfectly clear, far too simple to hear.

What her gaze focused on made her gape stupidly. The ground was an inch or so from her face, close enough to touch if she moved her arms out to reach for its solidity. Suspended in the air, her body felt weightless. It was a bizarre feeling, made her want to curl up and hide away. Unnatural and unwelcome, a sense of queasiness poured into her, and River swallowed back the bile as the blood began rushing to her head.

"Come on, then."

Tone slightly exasperated, the Doctor's voice pulled River from her blank confusion. She was alive. He'd managed to save them. She didn't know how, or with what, but that didn't matter. They were both alive, had survived the fall. Letting out a small sob of relief, River felt tears welling up in her eyes as she began shaking.

So much for it being impossible.

-o-

_"How impossible?"_

Watching as his cheeks took on a pink tinge, his eyes going wide as they did so, River couldn't help but laugh when the Doctor stuttered out his reply, denial seeping into him as he unconsciously took a step away from her.

Of course, she understood him a lot better now. The word impossible was, quite possibly, the most useless one in his vocabulary. He never meant it, never used it correctly.

"Don't you mean 'improbable'? Or, really, in your case, I suppose it would be more along the lines of 'absolutely possible'?"

He stared at her and, to River's utter amusement, his blush darkened.

_Delightful_, she thought. This was definitely going to be a _lot_ of fun.

-o-

_"Two minutes."_

River had learnt a long time ago that, when he shouted the word out in panic, he actually didn't mean it. It had taken a few years, a couple of extended trips in the TARDIS, and too many adventures to count for her to develop an automatic response to it. He would call out that something was impossible, and her lips would rapidly form the question as to how impossible the task really was.

The reply varied, but almost every single time the next words out of his mouth would be a specific amount of time. Eight minutes, twenty seconds, an hour, or any other amount of time would slip from his lips, and River would gain a sense of ease and relaxation. As long as the Doctor kept responding to her the way she expected him to, it would be okay.

Hearing him respond to her in such a familiar way, even though this was terribly early for him in the sense of their connected time lines, was very comforting. Yes, the Weeping Angels did appear to have the upper hand, and yes, it seemed that they were completely outnumbered and at a loss to find a real solution to getting rid of all the Angels. But that didn't matter. If the Doctor was confident enough to believe they could get out of this alive, then River was happy enough to trust him no matter how dire the situation turned out to be.

After the doors had closed behind them, and the oxygen factory was revealed, River allowed herself to relax a bit. Body losing its tension, eyes closing for a second, River attempted to get her breathing back to normal. Everything was going to be okay. They were in danger, obviously, but that wasn't the worst thing in the Universe.

The Doctor's reply to her question had been perfect, just what she wanted to hear. And he had achieved what he had dubbed impossible, which wasn't surprising, not anymore.

No matter what happened today, in the end they were going to make it out of here alive. River was sure of that. Other than the fact that the Doctor still had to experience many more adventures with her past self, River also had a feeling that, even though time was capable of being rewritten, today was not going to be one of the instances in which it was. The feeling made River smile, gave her reason to be happy in such a terrible situation. She was sorry that Amy had yet to experience confidence and reassurance like it, but that couldn't be helped.

The only thing that made River's joy falter was a truth that she understood deep down in her heart. It was something she didn't like to dwell on, an idea that she kept tucked away at the back of her mind, because it was something that scared her completely.

There would be a day, she knew, when the Doctor would speak of the impossible, and his answer to her question would be the wrong one. The rules they had - a statement of impossible, a counteractive question, and a rapid answer - were unspoken, and neither one of them had broken the routine yet. Almost everything was capable of having an exception, though. She just hoped that, when that exception came, it wouldn't be too devastating.

For now though, she could focus on his _correct_ responses, and how much glee she could gain from them. Although it was a simple thing, in the long run, it helped River to know that, within their mixed time lines and the chaos of always meeting in the wrong order, there was one thing that she could always rely on. For a while, at least.

**-o-**


End file.
